a peek inside the fishbowl

On Father’s Day we found ourselves at Toys R Us. To be perfectly honest, it’s not my favourite place to be, no matter what day it is. There is so much crap at that store it gives me a headache. I get a much better feeling at Mrs. Tiggywinkle’s or PlayValue on Carling, where there is significantly less Dora/SpiderMan/SpongeBob and many of the toys have a sense of humor about them.

But there we were, at Toys R Us. Our goal was to buy two water squirters for the two fathers. We found what we were looking for quickly enough, but something else caught my eye. I managed to sneak a couple of these beauties to the register without either child seeing what I was buying.

Here is Sarah, posing with one of them:

 And then she just got goofy:

If you’re my age you might remember having a red or blue Bolo bat. (I tried Googling that term, but surprisingly I’ve come up dry.)  It’s another name for a paddle ball.

I can’t remember exactly how old I was, but where I grew up in Bramalea/Brampton there was a Bolo Bat CRAZE and for they were everywhere for awhile. I’m not sure why it was called a Bolo Bat, perhaps that was the trademark name, but we were paddle balling for days on end. And no one lost an eye!

The ones I bought were the New Millennium Version. The paddle is semi-transparent and the ball is a semi-soft squishy gel ball, so there is a much better chance of your eyeballs surviving intact.

I don’t have to explain what you do with this thing, right?

I thought the girls would get a kick out of it. And they did, for awhile. They found it difficult to “paddle” and get it going. They gave up a little too quickly. It took me a few times before my Superior Hand-Eye Coordination (developed alongside my maternal instinct … I can catch a falling toddler and their soother while holding a hot coffee) kicked in.

After a few days of practice I got pretty good. I can paddle it 200+ times without stopping now. (My paddle ball days are on hold at the moment because Sarah’s string is wearing thin.)

Mark thinks I bought these for myself. Can you believe it??

I’ve taken the paddle ball to the park with us a couple of times. The last time was when Mark was kicking the soccer ball around with the girls. I didn’t feel like playing, and I didn’t feel like just sitting and watching either. So I practiced my paddling. 

Seriously folks, when I do this, the kids come running.

“WHAT IS THAT?” they ask breathlessly.

It’s like not knowing what a Slinky is, or a YoYo for chrissakes!

And then I demonstrate. They watch me, boggle-eyed, absorbing EVERTHING. I am secretly hoping that I’ve started a new generation paddle-ball craze. It’s a great toy.

I’d like to compile a list of Best Toys, just for us. Which ones that are truly the top of the crop? What do you think? What’s an essential toy in your house?

The next toy I’m bringing out: jacks. I bought them at Tiggywinkles for only $1.99… 16 metal jacks and two rubber balls! Heh. Mummy’s going to be busy this weekend.